Page 27 - Christie's July 9th 2020 Hong Kong Buddhist Art Under Empire

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE ASIAN COLLECTION
SOLD TO BENEFIT MENTAL HEALTH CHARITIES IN ASIA
亞洲私人珍藏 — 有關收益將捐贈予亞洲精神健康慈善機構

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A VERY RARE COPPER-RED GLAZED MONK’S Monk's-cap ewers were used in ritual ceremonies of the Lamaist
CAP EWER sect of Buddhism, and were mostly made in metal. The form was
first copied in porcelain during the Yuan dynasty and was particularly
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE popular during the Yongle and Xuande reigns. For a discussion on
AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795) Yongle ewers of this form, see Liu Xinyuan, Imperial Porcelain of the
The globular body tapers towards the splayed foot, with a Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial
pronounced ridge at the base of the slightly flared neck and Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, Catalogue, pp. 98 and 99.
the elongated, curved spout which projects from the galleried Early 15th-century examples are predominantly found with tianbai
glaze, only two examples in red glaze appear to be known, both from
rim of 'monk's cap' outline. The peak of the rim rises above a the Qing court collection, one with a Qianlong imperial poem carved on
small lug on the interior and beside the incised ruyi-head tab the base is now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Catalogue
surmounting the curved strap-handle moulded with a median of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the
ridge and terminating on the high shoulder with another ruyi- Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 112-113, no. 29, which also has a wood
stand with an inscription indicating that it was in the residence of the
head. The ewer is covered in a rich copper-red glaze paling at Yongzheng Emperor when he was a prince (fig. 1); the second is in the
the edges. Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in the revised Sekai Toji Zenshu,
7 ¾ in. (19.2 cm.) high, box Ming, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, no. 32. As suggested by the inscription on
the stand, the first ewer is probably the one depicted in one of the
HK$1,200,000-1,800,000 US$160,000-230,000 Twelve Beauties portraits painted for Prince Yong (fig. 2) between 1709
and 1723.
PROVENANCE
Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 20 March 1990, lot 619 The 15th-century examples provided the model for Qing potters.
For Kangxi red-glazed ewers with Xuande apocryphal marks, see an
The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete
Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 April 2002, lot 538 Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Monochrome Porcelain,
Hong Kong, 1999, p. 25, no. 22; and another sold at Christie’s Paris,
LITERATURE 7 December 2007, lot 132. Compare also with a smaller Kangxi ewer
The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, no. 128 without a mark (14 cm.), sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2013,
Christie’s 20 Years in Hong Kong: Chinese Ceramics and Works lot 1204. The Kangxi ewers have a more globular body and a straighter
of Art Highlights, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 155 neck, unlike the Qianlong examples which adhere more closely to the
15th-century prototypes.
Very few other Qianlong-marked red-glazed ewers are known. One
清乾隆 寶石紅釉僧帽壺 六字篆書款 nearly identical to the current ewer with a matched cover was included
in the Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition catalogue
Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, no. 75, subsequently sold at
來源 Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 April 1998, lot 721; and a smaller one (11.8 cm.
香港佳士得，1990 年 3 月 20 日，拍品 619 號 high) with cover and gilt highlights in the National Palace Museum,
徐氏藝術館，香港 Taipei, was included in the exhibition catalogue Emperor Ch’ien-lung’s
香港佳士得，2002 年 4 月 29 日，拍品 538 號 Grand Cultural Enterprise, Taipei, 2002, p. 197, no. V-33. Compare also
with Qianlong-marked monk’s cap ewers in different glaze colours,
two in sacrificial blue glaze, one formerly preserved in the Warehouse
出版 of Antiquities at the Jingyang Palace in the Forbidden City, now in the
徐氏藝術館，香港，1991 年，圖版 128 號 National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Monarchy and Its Buddhist Way:
Tibetan-Buddhist Ritual Implements in the National Palace Museum,
《香港佳士得二十週年回顧 1986-2006：中國瓷器及工藝品 Taipei, 1999, p. 213, no. 115; one of larger size (19.3 cm) in the Idemitsu
精選》，香港，2006 年，頁 155 Museum, see Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, no. 954;
and a miniature ewer (10 cm. high) with four-character mark in pale
celadon glaze in the Tianminlou Collection, see The S. C. Ko Tianminlou
Collection, Part I, no. 158.

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